Okay back where we started, with peas. If you were wondering, the difference between me and Smitten Kitchen is the difference between her pasta with pea pesto recipe where she's shelling her own peas and blanching and then plunging them into an ice bath and reserving some of them so that the final result is like a light green dress with dark green polka dots, and me ripping open a bag of frozen peas and occasionally leaning over them to smell if they're cooked and thinking cooked peas smell like burnt hair but no, those are my braids hanging over the burner.
1 lb frozen peas
2 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup olive oil
1 lb pasta
Bring lightly salted water to a boil over high heat in a large saucepan. Add peas and cook until tender, about five minutes. Drain.
Put more water on for the pasta.
Put the peas, garlic, walnuts, parmesan cheese and nutmeg into a food processor and process until roughly chopped. Drizzle in the olive oil and process until smooth.
Cook the pasta until al dente, about ten minutes. Drain. You may want to reserve a cup or so of the cooking water in case your pesto is very thick.
Return the pasta to the pot and stir in the pesto, thinning it out with reserved water as desired.
